The NSW Environment Protection Authority has fined Richmond Valley Council $8,000 after a big sewage spill.

The EPA has found that 12.7 kilolitres of untreated sewage was discharged into the Evans River in March this year.

The Richmond Valley Council reportedly took a full 31 hours to notify authorities, at which point water sampling could be conducted.

EPA spokesperson Brett Nudd says prompt notification is crucial.

“That involves things like getting signage up and undertaking testing and doing any maintenance works as quickly as you can to resolve the situation,” Mr Nudd told reporters.

“Council did respond and do maintenance work and do various things.

“They just didn't contact the EPA and there wasn't sampling.

“So they've done a number of things quite well, but the notification came up fairly short.”

The Richmond Valley Council has indicated it may appeal against the fine.

Council general manager John Walker has slammed the EPA's handling of the situation.

“Regretfully, and due to circumstances beyond council's control, notification of the sewerage overflow to our controllers was delayed - a result of a specific component failure which went undetected,” Mr Walker’s statement said.

“As soon as council staff became aware of the situation, immediate action was taken to ensure the safety of the public, as well as the remediation of the affected area.
“Thankfully, there has been no apparent environmental harm, nor evidence to suggest any adverse effects to public health as a result of the incident.”

Mr Walker said the council had gone back over all of its systems and processes in detail, to prevent any future recurrence.

But he is disappointed with the EPA’s approach to the matter, especially when he asked EPA officers what else they would have done to help if council notified them immediately.

He says the answer was “nothing”.

“I can assure the community we care more about our environment than a bureaucrat from Sydney,” Mr Walker said.

“Council staff reacted properly to the incident except for reporting immediately to the EPA.

“As explained, we were let down by a system failure.

“Good working relationships are a two-way street and I would have much preferred the EPA to offer more on-ground support rather than just issuing media releases to show how tough it can be.”

But Mr Nudd, from the EPA, says Richmond Valley had been warned over a similar incident in the past.

“In 2014, not an identical but a similar type of scenario played out at that point and the EPA got involved and issued a warning to council at that time,” he said.

“We've spoken directly to council and they've indicated that they've taken the matter quite seriously and revised their systems.

“So we'll obviously be actively monitoring the situation from here on in to ensure that notifications occur.”